for the great support they have given my family. thank you all. i love you all very much. very soon, i will have the opportunity to hug you all. thank you so much, my people, thank you. it was almost two weeks ago that his parents were kidnapped at gunpoint at a petrol station in barrancas in north—east colombia. his mother, cilenis, was rescued that night, but his father was abducted. police and the military had focused their search on a difficult—to—reach area on the border between colombia and venezuela. the group holding diaz, the national liberation army, known as the eln, had called his kidnap a "mistake" and had agreed to release him. but it wasn't until today when a team including un officials and those from the catholic church met with rebels to bring diaz senior home... much to the delight of his family, who had been glued to the news channels. translation: it is| immensely exciting. we are very excited. we've spent many days with uncertainty, sleepless nights. we are happy today. for a country well versed in kidnappings, this story has been big news, not least because it involves a famous player. the colombian government had been in the midst of negotiating a road map to peace with the eln. that process may now pause, but the party has already begun for a town united in itsjoy at the return of one of its most respected residents. natalie pirks, bbc news. the bbc�*s daniel pardo has been following this story from bogota and told us more about why the kidnapping of luis manuel diaz has struck such a chord in colombia. luis manuel diaz is a short, humble guy who has the reputation of being very charismatic — as i was saying, he's a football trainer back in barrancas — and that's what we saw when he was coming off the helicopter there after the release. he looked pretty well. those times of the �*80s and �*90s in which kidnapped people looked different after years of being abducted by the guerrilla groups are over. this is a different situation. part of the reason why there was so much rage is because colombia is not any more the country that it used to be. well, luis diaz started for liverpool in their europa league match against toulouse in france, a game that provided them with their first defeat in the competition so far this season. diaz was given the option to play by manager jurgen klopp, who said that he wanted a start. but liverpool were always behind in the game. toulouse went 2—0 up through aron donnum and thijs dallinga and then had a 3—1 lead before liverpool provided a late charge. diogojota got one back in the 89th minute, but as they hunted the win that would have sent them through, a late goal from jarell quansah was ruled out with the help of var because of a handball in the early stages of the build up. well, we had hoped to hearfrom jurgen klopp after the match. there were a number of issues that he could have spoken about, had he been able to conduct his normal press conference. but reportedly for space reasons, it was moved to a marquee at the stadium de toulouse and a problem arose. and who had the idea to do the press conference here? that would be a really interesting question. fans shouting wow. thanks a lot. thank you. yeah, it might have been different, had the toulouse fans not had anything to shout about. bayer leverkusen did get the fourth straight europa league win that sent them through to the knockout stage. victor boniface scored a late winner for a 1—0 victory over qarabag in azerbaijan for the bundesliga leaders. so where leverkusen succeeded, roma didn't. they, like liverpool, had a chance to go through with two games to spare, but they lost 2—0 to slavia prague. sparta prague couldn't match that — rangers beat them 2—1 at ibrox. west ham are top of their group after a 1—0 win over olympiakos. while brighton's second win in a row over ajax has put them in contention of reaching the next stage. for the fifth time in a row, there is no room for raheem sterling in the england squad. gareth southgate has left out the chelsea forward for the euro qualifiers against malta and north macedonia later this month. newcastle's callum wilson has come back in and despite being injury doubts, both james maddison and bukayo saka have been included as well. and while southgate decided against recalling raheem sterling now, he says that doesn't mean he won't in the future. the door is 100% open, not only for raheem, but for other players that aren't in this squad. so there's no doubt about that. i mean, we don't need to know about his quality, his personality. he is a crucial part of why we've had the journey we've had over the last few years. so i can only repeat what i've said in the last couple of squad selection meetings. the team are playing really well. we had an exceptional win here against italy last time round. who do we leave out? after four straight defeats, new zealand have beaten sri lanka to restore their chances of making the cricket world cup semi—finals. in fact, only a huge win for pakistan or afghanistan in their final group matches will deny new zealand a place in the last four. here's our sports correspondent, joe wilson. the bengaluru pitch was prepared for 100 overs — didn't get close. sri lanka started fast, lost wickets quicker. kusal perera, rapid 51, fell to mitchell santner�*s hands. now mitchell santner bowling, daryl mitchell catching — strong combination. sri lanka needed the bravery of tail—ender maheesh theekshana. faced 91 balls, including this one. ouch! he batted on to make 38 not out. still, new zealand only needed 172 to win. devon conway didn't hang around. here, another six for rachin ravindra, the top scorer in this world cup. sri lanka did take five wickets — good catch to remove conway — just to prove that the lion didn't always sleep tonight. there it is. but new zealand's winning runs came in the 24th over. thumping win, and the improved net run rate basically leaves them secure in fourth and imagining their semifinal. joe wilson, bbc news. so, how secure are new zealand? well, they played all nine matches and must wait now for two other teams to play their final game to see if they're to make the semi—finals. but it's very likely, and this is the reason why — pakistan's final game is against england. they'll have to win by 287 runs at least. and if you think that's a tall order, afghanistan need to beat south africa by a38 runs. they're partly in that predicament because of the kind of mood that glenn maxwell was in the other day against afghanistan. the australia batter played through the pain of back spasms and cramp to rescue his team from almost certain defeat, his unbeaten double century helping australia qualify for the semi—finals. he's been speaking on the bbc�*s no balls podcast. i reckon i've been in that situation about a0 or 50 times, and maybe... maybe at the best possible result i get a 50 and then play a shocking shot to get out. it's a nice change to have some positivity in the... on my phone. it didn't feel like there was added pressure or anything like that, so it wasn't sort of badly... oh, like we could almost pull off a miraculous win. it was just like, this would be so funny if we got this done. so it was just... it was great fun out there and we just had a smile on our face the whole time, whatever we were doing and just tried to keep it as chilled out and laid back as we possibly could and didn't really talk about winning until probably got down to the last maybe ten overs. i understand the magnitude of the stats and all that sort of stuff, but in my mind and how i was feeling out there, itjust, it felt like it was just me and pat cummins having fun, like it was... we were so far removed, i think from, "right, we're going to win this match and this is how we're going to do it." it was so far removed from my thoughts. it sort ofjust happened so naturally and it's pretty cool to look back on, but i still think if we don't win this world cup, it probably won't mean as much going forward. like, it would be amazing, but i'd like to hope that it puts us on that path to winning it. it was an extraordinary innings. head to our website for more of that interview. you can also download the podcast from your normal podcast provider. and head as well to the website for all the europa league and europa conference league results and news too. but that's it from sportsday. bye for now. hello there. the weekend is just around the corner and it could be cooler, but quieter. more details on that injust a moment. but for friday, we still got some showers around and they'll be a real nuisance first thing in the morning across wales and south west england, driven along by some strong to gale force gusts of winds on exposed coast. the good news is that'll push those showers through at quite a pace, moving south of the m4 corridor during the early morning and probably clearing the kent coast before lunchtime. behind it quite a clearance, some sunny spells coming through. the winds still coming from a northerly direction, that'll drive in a few showers across exposed coasts of scotland, northern ireland and maybe running down through the irish sea. but temperatures generally a little bit more subdued than of late. we're looking at 7—12 degrees as the overall high. now, into the start of the weekend, it looks likely that saturday will be mostly fine and dry — there'll be some sunshine around. there will be some rain on sunday, but into the west and it will take its time. frost and fog could be an issue, too. so with this little ridge of high pressure building on saturday, hence the reason the quiet start, the wind direction still coming from the north — a cooler source. so temperatures are going to be struggling a little, but there will be plenty of sunshine. early morning fog will lift, sunshine come through and highs again peaking between 6—11 celsius, generally, across the country. now, as we move out of saturday into sunday, that frontal system starts to push in from the atlantic. it's going to take its time in doing so, but it will throw in a little bit more moisture into the atmosphere. so there's a greater chance of some more dense fog which could linger. so early on sunday morning, if you're heading out for remembrance services, it's certainly worth bearing in mind that it could be chilly and it could be pretty murky. widespread fog, some of that pretty stubborn to clear away. and if that does happen, the temperatures really will be impacted. there will be some rain by the end of the afternoon out to the west as well, highs of 6—11 degrees once again. now, as we move into monday and tuesday, we're back to more of a south—westerly wind and more frontal systems pushing in from the atlantic, which means it will get that little bit milder once again. but unfortunately, there's going to be showers or longer spells of rain returning for most of us. that's it. have a great weekend. live from washington, this is bbc news. israel has agreed to limited breaks in fighting in gaza as video emerges of two hostages still held captive. actor robert de niro�*s production company is ordered to pay $1 million for how it treated a former female employee. back on the red carpet, hollywood celebrates the end of the longest active's strike in its history. and a chat show host ruffled feathers in new zealand. president biden has welcomed israel's decision to allow humanitarian causes in gaza. four—hour breaks should help the palestinians escape the worst of the violence and let aid in, the agreement came after weeks of us pressure. president biden earlier said he had asked for pauses of several days rather than a few hours. did you ask him to pause? yes, i ask for an _ did you ask him to pause? yes, i ask for an even _ did you ask him to pause? yes, i ask for an even longer - did you ask him to pause? yes, i ask for an even longer pause. | i ask for an even longer pause. the israeli defence minister says the pauses would not interfere with military objectives, and he reiterated israel would continue the war until hamas was defeated and all hostages were freed. the pauses are intended to allow in humanitarian aid and help civilians flee south along evacuation routes, escaping the intense bombardment and air strikes in the north. this footage shows a stream of people leaving gaza on foot and arriving at refugee